Stigmatized by stereotypes: Sherry

Stigmatized by stubborn stereotypes, sherry is mistakenly dismissed as the aperitif of grannies and the English. Charles H. Baker, who wasn't English, said, "Sherry makes the finest cocktail known. All bars must have a bottle, for there essentially are still sane people who prefer it to any chilled, mixed drink."

Sherry, like champagne, is considered a spirit so genuine that when sipped neat or mixed it offers an unmatched sophisticated taste. Sherry can be traced back to the Phoenicians of 1100 BC, though it wasn't until the Middle Ages - when the Moors introduced the Arab invention of alembic distillation to the people of Jerez, Spain - that this interesting aperitif and occasional digestif became popular.

Back then, imbibers of sherry, or "sack," as it was called, had become so prevalent - or perhaps so notorious - that sherry is included in the evolution of drugs. Falstaff, in Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 2, credits sherry with making excellent wit, warming the blood, and encouraging deeds of courage and valor: "If I had a thousand sons, the first humane principle I would teach them should be to foreswear thin potations and to addict themselves to sack." Sherry was enough to lure Samuel Pepys, a 15th-century English government official best know for his diary containing hundreds of odd references about drinking, to fall off the wagon only a day after his promise "to read over my vows and increase them by a vow against all strong drink until November next of any sort or quantity."

Rest assured, though, sherry is no more addicting than other drinks, and like vermouth, it can be the perfect aperitif. Since the time of the Moors, sherry production has expanded past the small town of Jerez de la Frontera to include Sanlúcar de Barrameda and Puerto de Santa Maria in the Cádiz providence of Spain. But as with cognac, tequila, and bourbon, production is still restricted to locales. Although South Africa and Australia produce near-sherry counterparts, they cannot be labeled such.

The mystique of sherry comes from its distillation process. Each September, ripe grapes are picked from the chalky Jerez soil, dried, and crushed. Then the juice, called "mosto," is collected in casks and stored in underground warehouses called "bodegas." It is there that the fermentation begins, and each stage, or pressing, will produce a different type of sherry.

Fermentation in the bodegas lasts about four months and produces a clear, dry wine that lacks sugar. Once the wine falls, or clarifies, the vintner must sample each barrel and classify it as very good, or raya; good, dos raya; or poor, tres raya. Once classified, the fermentation may be left to set for several years. At this time, the fermentation is still considered wine, not sherry.

Next, the wine is fortified with brandy made from previous vintage tres rayas wines. The bodega "master" oversees the maturation and blending. For wine to become sherry, it must go through a second fermentation known as la flor, or "the flowering." Mycoderma vini, a yeast unique to Jerez, is the catalyst for this. Inside each "butt," or barrel, the yeast surfaces atop the wine as a creamy white film. Until the flor begins converting wine into sherry - which takes about a year - not even the master can predict what sherry will be created. Grapes from the same vineyard and harvest, but placed in two separate casks, can produce two very different sherries.

After the flor develops, the bodega master classifies each barrel by how much flor it produces: palmas, which have the most flor, will become finos; palo cortados, which have some flor, will become amorosos; and olorosos, which have little to no flor and are the richest sherry.

The next stage, known as the "solera system," is the organizational tool used in the bodegas to age and blend sherry. This system is made up of several rows of barrels filled with wine of the same quality and age. Each row is a "solera." When the master needs a wine for blending, it's drawn from one of the casks in a solera. The casks may be anywhere from one year to a hundred years old. When a cask starts to run dry, it is refilled with wine from the first criadera, or wine nursery. The master has several criaderas from which to draw. The last criadera contains young wine to be refreshed with wine from nearly a year to several years old.

By the time the master finishes blending a sherry, it will have several different wines of varying age and quality in it. Sherry isn't given a vintage, but its label reveals the year of the oldest wine used. "Solera 1870," for instance, tells you that the oldest wine used in the blending came from a barrel of vintage 1870. Of course, this doesn't tell how much of that solera was used, nor does it speak for the quality of the rest of the wines used. So rather than concerning yourself with the vintage of the solera, buy what you like and remember the name of the bottler and shipper.

All sherry is typically dry, so its variations are quite similar. Some sherries are colored and sweetened with vino de color, a specific type of sherry wine. Finos are the palest, driest sherries, and when chilled, are the perfect aperitif served neat or as a cocktail ingredient. Finos to try include manzanilla (the lightest, with a bitter bite) and amontillado (aged, with a hazelnut tang). I sometimes use a drop from one these as a substitute for vermouth in a Martini.

If you find these sherries too dry for your palate, try a quality amoroso. Medium dry and darker brown in color, amorosos can be served neat as an aperitif whether chilled or at room temperature.

The best sherry digestifs are olorosos, creams, and Indian sherries. They are quite rich and offer a subtle, nutty sweetness. Oloroso, the most popular, has a full-bodied walnut flavor.

Finos can be opened and corked for about a week before they begin to lose their character and flavor. They are so sensitive to aging that even a bottle of unopened fino will spoil after a year. Olorosos and creams are hardier, and retain their quality for up to a month after opening. All sherries should be stored in a cool, dark place like the refrigerator. I'll pull out a fino on evenings when I'm after a change or when I want to spruce up a cocktail with what Mr. Baker called "one of the truly civilized drinks enjoyed by mankind."